Gigaclear’s 1000Mbps broadband transforms rural living in Appleton and Eaton

Oxfordshire, 20 November 2012: Gigaclear, a provider of ultrafast fibre optic broadband to rural communities, has completed construction of an all-fibre broadband network in Appleton and Eaton – placing the Oxfordshire villages among the best-connected communities in the world. More than 400 properties have a connection to the network and all signed-up customers are now connected.  Ultrafast ‘fibre to the premises’ broadband transforms rural living with upload and download speeds of up to 1000Mbps (1Gbps). The network has taken three months to construct.

Frustrated by an inability to access services taken for granted in urban areas, villagers grouped together to drive improvements in their area – working closely with the team from Gigaclear. At a recent demonstration day in Appleton many experienced reliable, ultrafast broadband for the first time. Attendees used the Gigaclear network to access communications, entertainment, education, gaming, security and work-related applications and services via a range of devices including their own.

Demonstrations included the use of SmartTVs; internet telephony where users keep their existing telephone number and handsets; new TV on-demand services from satellite and terrestrial providers; online gaming; and, of course, speed tests. The latter consistently demonstrated between 900Mbps and 1000Mbps of upload and download capability via the Gigaclear network. The Gigaclear team was available to answer questions about how the service works and what installation involves.

Graham Rose, a member of the Appleton and Eaton Broadband Group said, “I have been using the Gigaclear service for a while now, and have been blown away – not just by the speed available for uploads and downloads, but, more importantly, by the realisation of how many more services I can use because of those speeds. I can make high quality video calls and, having switched to an internet telephony service, I have a better quality telephone service that costs me less. Overall my monthly costs have reduced but, through ultrafast broadband, I now have magnificent communications ability.”

Matthew Hare, chief executive of Gigaclear, said, “We are extremely pleased to have completed the construction of the UK’s fastest broadband network.  Our customers in Appleton and Eaton are connected to a broadband service which far surpasses that currently available in large towns and cities – in fact the fastest pure fibre local network in the country.”

“We have five more communities scheduled for construction over the next few months, of which four are also in Oxfordshire and the fifth in Rutland. With over 150 more communities in discussion with us already, this is a very exciting time for world-class rural broadband in the UK.”

For information about rural communities eligible for a Gigclear’s ultrafast fibre optic broadband see www.gigaclear.com/can-i-get-it